HOLLYWOOD

Jake Gyllenhaal Reveals Which Co-star He Had a Crush On

Jake Gyllenhaal has been acting for about 25 of his 35 years on Earth, and has had the good fortune of starring opposite a number of incredible female actresses including Rachel McAdams, Rene Russo, and Anne Hathaway. But in a new interview, the Oscar-nominated actor reveals the one co-star on whom he had a longstanding crush.

While speaking to People’s Jess Cagel, Gyllenhaal copped to having feelings for Jennifer Aniston, with whom he co-starred in 2002’s The Good Girl.

“I had a crush on her for years,” Gyllenhaal said. “And working with her was not easy. . . . I was—um, yeah. That’s all I’m going to say. It was lovely. It wasn’t hard, that’s what I would say.”

He explained that it was not her television persona that appealed to him as much as her “personality from afar, and movies she was in. . . . And some of Friends. I’m not a huge Friends fan, but who she is.”

Gyllenhaal has previously spoken about working with Aniston, telling interviewer James Lipton what he remembers about making The Good Girl: “What I remember about that movie is making out with Jennifer Aniston.”

During the same conversation, Gyllenhaal suggested it was easy to play a character besotted with Aniston’s: “I remember how uncomfortable around her I was, and I remember how beautiful she is and was. I remember thinking, What the hell am I doing here in this situation? And I think all of those things are in that performance.”

Gyllenhaal also told People about his other co-stars, including Anne Hathaway, with whom he co-starred in Love and Other Drugs and Brokeback Mountain.

“A massive talent, and a really brilliant and sometimes confusing human,” Gyllenhaal said of the Oscar winner. “She’s one of the most adventurous people I’ve ever met. . . . When I first met her, and even now, even knowing her for a long time, Anne is somebody who would just not really want to get into the party—she is the life of the party and the person who will jump off the cliff first. She really is! I love contradictions in people, she happens to be that. I think she’s probably one of the most talented actresses of our generation.”

Behind the Scenes of Everest With Jake Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, and Josh Brolin

Josh Brolin plays Beck Weathers, who wrote a book about his survival on Mount Everest, Left for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest.

Photo: Photograph by Greg Williams.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays Scott Fischer, one of two experienced mountain guides leading groups up Mount Everest the day of the 1996 disaster.

Photo: Photograph by Greg Williams.

Director Baltasar Kormákur, with his cast. The production moved from Nepal to the mountains of Italy to Pinewood Studios outside of London, where a giant freezer kept the conditions very authentic. “We were blowing snow [at] minus-60 Celsius snow,” Kormákur says. “We were inside, but we were doing that with real snow.”

Photo: Photograph by Greg Williams.

Kormákur insisted on the actors growing out beards, even though it made them harder to tell apart in costume. “Hollywood usually doesn’t like this, but I was not going to blow that away,” he says. “You’re not going to be shaving up there.”

Photo: Photograph by Greg Williams.

Clarke completed hikes before filming began and experienced the kinds of winds that occur at high altitudes—and then went indoors to have fans blow snow in his face. Even though he’d experienced the real deal, Clarke admits, “Those things hurt.”

Photo: Photograph by Greg Williams.

Brolin describes not the snow inside the studio, but the salt, which was also being blown at the actors at gale-force speeds. As he told NPR, “At that point, I was like, ‘I don’t ever want to do a movie like this again. I’m going to fire my agent. I’m going to change careers.’”

Photo: Photograph by Greg Williams.

For Clarke, the highlight of production was taking a helicopter up beyond Everest base camp, at an elevation of around 22,000 feet. It might have been the thin air and lack of oxygen, but Clarke says, “I was out of my head with giddiness and happiness.”

Photo: Photograph by Greg Williams.

Josh Brolin plays Beck Weathers, who wrote a book about his survival on Mount Everest, Left for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest.

Photograph by Greg Williams.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays Scott Fischer, one of two experienced mountain guides leading groups up Mount Everest the day of the 1996 disaster.

Photograph by Greg Williams.

Director Baltasar Kormákur, with his cast. The production moved from Nepal to the mountains of Italy to Pinewood Studios outside of London, where a giant freezer kept the conditions very authentic. “We were blowing snow [at] minus-60 Celsius snow,” Kormákur says. “We were inside, but we were doing that with real snow.”

Photograph by Greg Williams.

Kormákur insisted on the actors growing out beards, even though it made them harder to tell apart in costume. “Hollywood usually doesn’t like this, but I was not going to blow that away,” he says. “You’re not going to be shaving up there.”

Photograph by Greg Williams.

“Balt has a real appetite for this type of filmmaking,” says Jason Clarke, who plays Rob Hall, of his director. “There’s a lot of planning involved, and the ability to think on your feet.”

Photograph by Greg Williams.

“People will never realize the work behind it,” Kormákur says about the film’s visual effects, which stitch together soundstage work with real mountains.

Photograph by Greg Williams.

Among the many consultants on Everest included David Breashears and Guy Cotter, both of whom were on Mount Everest during the 1996 disaster. Cotter still works with Adventure Consultants and lost several members of his team during a 2014 avalanche on Everest. “He had to rush off from our set to get up there,” says Kormákur.

Photograph by Greg Williams.

“It was one of the great adventures,” says Clarke. “It’s like an old John Huston film.”

Photograph by Greg Williams.

Several members of the cast were injured in the process of making Everest. “Jake, his final scene is done in the elements, his nostrils are frozen,“ says Kormákur. “He was fucked up for a while.”

Photograph by Greg Williams.

Clarke completed hikes before filming began and experienced the kinds of winds that occur at high altitudes—and then went indoors to have fans blow snow in his face. Even though he’d experienced the real deal, Clarke admits, “Those things hurt.”

Photograph by Greg Williams.

Brolin describes not the snow inside the studio, but the salt, which was also being blown at the actors at gale-force speeds. As he told NPR, “At that point, I was like, ‘I don’t ever want to do a movie like this again. I’m going to fire my agent. I’m going to change careers.’”

Photograph by Greg Williams.

For Clarke, the highlight of production was taking a helicopter up beyond Everest base camp, at an elevation of around 22,000 feet. It might have been the thin air and lack of oxygen, but Clarke says, “I was out of my head with giddiness and happiness.”